The Savage Critic: January
2nd 2004
By Brian Hibbs
Welcome back, my friends, to the show
that never ends.
Goes on hiatus once in a while, but
doesn’t END, no.
Hey, I’m back, hurrah and all of that.
Benjamin is doing
great, thanks for asking (and, yah, sooner or later I’ll get some new
pix sorted out – we’ve some darling ones), but I have to tell you the
little guy soaks up most of my writing time.
Still, I “enjoy” doing the Critic,
and a bunch of you seem to like it, so I want to continue doing it.
Thing is, there’s just no way I can
keep up the old format. Man, I can barely find the time to read everything
by the weekend, let alone write it up, not with an infant in the house.
In a year or two when he can function a little alone, then maybe, but
not now.
So, what I’m going to do is switch
to a “Books of significance” style system, where I only talk about the
half a dozen or so things that strike me as meaningful in any given
week.
I expect you to write me if you hate this format…
or hell, if you love it (unlikely)
Thankfully, this was a small week in
any case, so I can take it a little slow as I find my sea legs again….
Don’t worry, I’ll generally be doing more work than this – let me get
acclimated again, k?
ASTRO CITY LOCAL HEROES #5: I don’t
think that Kurt actually had 44 pages of story here, but it was too
long to fit in a single issue. Maybe in the 38 page range, something
like that. Still, when it comes to Astro City, even misfires are Good comics.
EMPIRE #6: At the back of the book,
in the “next issue” box, there’s a “Write if you liked this series,
and think if we should do another”, and I have to say that I’m torn.
On the one hand, I really liked this (especially issue #5, where they
did what they shouldn’t’ve), while on the other, they certainly threw
in enough dangly plot bits to show that they have enough story for v2.
But ultimately, I’m afraid that a second go will diminish the strength
of this first one. My gut says it’s a one-mini concept. Good
INVINCIBLE #7: I have to say that,
no, I didn’t see that one coming at all, which is absolutely the way
twist endings should be. I’ll be curious to see how they explain this
one. Very Good
PLANETARY #18: What a luscious looking
comic. Not just the art, but the color palette was loverly, as well.
Hopefully they can keep it looking this good when Cassaday goes over
to X-Men. I just hope this doesn’t delay the conclusion of Planetary
that much – there’s only, what? Six to go? At least with #18, that
means they can do the third TP. Nice story, too, cleverly balancing
“done in one” with, ooh-we-have-a-lot-of-plot-threads-to-deal-with-in-six-issues-don’t-we?
Excellent.
SMAX #4: This is some prime and funny
stuff, working both as a send up of the quest genre, and as its own
story in its own right. We’re really really going to miss Alan Moore
when he retires – just as much from “light and fun” stuff as this as
from his more serious works. Very Good
SUPERMAN BATMAN #5: Nice idea to compare
and contrast the “families”, but Bats has Supes beat double-hands down,
don’t he? The Superman franchise needs to be rebooted, don’t you think?
I can’t imagine anyone not deeply wedded to current continuity would
much like this because there’s very little story in and around the guest-stars.
I’m sorta achingly curious as how they manage to end the arc, because
there’s a lot of lunacy to still sort through as to how the DC universe
“works” in relationship to this story. The arts nice, but I can’t give
this more than an OK.
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #1: Want to
like this, because I’m a big Ultimate universe fan, but it’s way too
decompressed for me to really enjoy. There really wasn’t enough to draw
me back in for #2 like there was in Ultimates. Still, the line
as a whole is solid, so I can certainly spot them 4 months to gain my
interest. Reed as a teenager left me even colder than I thought it would
– I understand the reasoning in doing it, but “poor misunderstood genius”
is such a trope in other media, it feels like a step back here. Based
purely on these 22 pages, with the right to revise this up in a few
months, I’ll go with an OK
Below is a list of everything else
Comix Experience received this week, but that I’m not reviewing. Just
for completeness sake, and all that:
ARCHIE #544
ARCHIE DIGEST #204
BRIAN PULIDO LADY DEATH #10
CAPER #3
CAPES #3
CASEFILES SAM & TWITCH #6
CRUX #33
DRAKE THE DEMON BOX #1
FLASH #205
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 MAN MACHINE INTERFACE #11
GI JOE #25
GI JOE TRANSFORMERS #6
GREEN LANTERN #172
HELLBLAZER #191
HEROES ANONYMOUS #3
HUMAN TORCH #8
JACK STAFF #12
KINGPIN #7
LOXLEY HONOR AMONG THIEVES ONE SHOT
MARVELOUS ADVENTURES OF GUS BEEZER #2
PVP #5
REIGN OF THE ZODIAC #5
REX MUNDI #7
ROUTE 666 #19
SCION #42
SPAWN #131
STAR WARS REPUBLIC #59
STREET FIGHTER #4
TOM STRONG #24
TRANSFORMERS GENERATION ONE VOL 3 #0
ULTRAMAN TIGA #4
VERONICA #148
VICTORY #3
And, for
even MORE completeness sake, here’s a list of books, TPBs, GNs, magazines,
and other things that CE got this week. I generally haven’t read any
of this by the time I post these reviews. Though I generally attempt
to give at least one recommendation amongst the TPBs each week, since
I HAVE read the material at SOME point.
2000 AD #1367
2000 AD #1368
2000 AD #1369
2000 AD #1370
2000 AD EXTREME ED #2 LIFE AND CRIMES OF PJ MAYBE
ANIMERICA JAN 2004 VOL 12 #1
ASTRO BOY VOL 22 TP
BARRY WINDSOR SMITH YOUNG GODS & FRIENDS HC
BLACKSAD TP
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL VOL 12 AUTUMN FROST TP
BORIS VALLEJO & JULIE BELL TWIN VISIONS TP
DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE GN
FORTEAN TIMES #178
G FAN #66
GIANT ROBOT WARRIORS GN
ICARO BOOK 1 GN
JADE SCREEN VOL 2 #2
JUDGE DREDD CURSED EARTH GN
JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #213
LORENZO MATTOTTI POSTERS SC
NIGHTWING HUNTRESS TP
QUEST FOR ABERZEN BOOK 1 TP
SCREEN POWER THE OFFICIAL JACKIE CHAN MAG VOL 5 #5
SFX #112
SHREK TP
SPIDER-MAN LEGENDS VOL 4 SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE TP
STARLOG #319
STARMAN VOL 8 STARS MY DESTINATION TP
TERMINATOR THE BURNING EARTH TP
VIDEO WATCHDOG #103
WILL ELDER MAD PLAYBOY OF ARTSC
This Week’s TP recommendation is:
Not much of a week for reprints. If he’d actually finished out the story,
BWS’ Young Gods might have been the pick, but he didn’t so we’ll
go with the they-probably-waited-too-long-but-it-is-great-anyway Starman
V 8.
|
